Flaws
by thearcherballet
Summary: A collection of One-Shots exploring different Harry Potter pairings based on the song "Flaws" by Bastille. This is not a songfic, I was just inspired by the song. Pairings: James/Lily; Sirius/Marlene; Teddy/Victoire; Remus/Tonks; &, Harry/Ginny. Rated T because I swear a lot and there's naked characters, and more...
1. Chapter 1: James and Lily

_~When all of your flaws and all of my flaws,  
Are laid out one by one,  
A wonderful part of the mess that we made,  
We pick ourselves undone~_

**James & Lily**

He still can't believe it when she says it.

But life always manages to turn things around, for better or worse.

It all started as it always did: with a fight.

* * *

"What do you mean you love me?" she yelled exasperated.

"That was not the reaction I was hoping for, and I'm not playing at anything! I'm expressing my _feelings. _Ever heard of those? You expressed you had _sort-of-positive_ feelings towards me about a year ago and we started dating, if you can recall," he retorted while throwing himself in a huff on the bed of their flat.

They had been lying in bed, both stark naked, when he said it. He was admiring her beautiful red hair that seemed to shine even more in contrast to the white bed sheets. It was the way her eyes looked like they were smiling as he placed his lips lazily upon her thin fingers. It was just a whisper; he thought she wouldn't even hear. _I love you_.

Lily's breaths were shortening. Her vision was blurry. Her heart-rate sped up, and not in a good way.

"Why. Would you say this? Now of all times?" Her voice was panicked. She sat up hyperventilating on the other end of the bed.

"Lily, why are you panicking?" his voice was worried.

She kept trying to catch her breath, but couldn't and her eyes darted around the room.

"I need some air," Lily says as she starts collecting her clothes from the floor and putting them on as she paced around the house.

"Lily, stop! What-where are you going?" James followed her from a distance.

"I just-I have to-I-uh," she kept saying as she frantically looked for her keys.

"LILY!" James said as he took her by the shoulder and gave her a gentle shake, searching for her eyes. "Stop! What are you doing?!"

At that, Lily finally looked up to his hazel eyes that were a mixture of worry and anxiety. "I don't know James," she whispered as her eyes glistened with unshed tears. He wrapped her in his arms, and she placed her head on his chest as she sighed.

They broke away and James held her hands, still staring profoundly into her deep green eyes. "I don't want you going mad like McGonagall when she found out that Slughorn was trying to negotiate with Dumbledore into letting you into Slytherin," James said softly with a small grin as he stroked her cheek gently, Lily chuckling a bit as he said so. "I like you when you're calm. You know you can talk to me about these things that bother you."

She gave him the tiniest smile she could muster up. "I'm just going to go out for a bit. I need to clear a few things out of my mind," she brushed off by squeezing his hands.

James nodded and kissed the top of her head. "Go on then, I'll be waiting here. Don't come too late."

"I will," she promised. Lily saw that James was averting her glance, like he couldn't almost believe her. She took his chin and made him look back at her. "Hey, I will be back. I always come back," she whispered.

"I know," he replied, giving her a sad smile. She kissed his lips softly and broke away. Walking fast, Lily went out the door and turned on the spot, Apparating in front of what looked like an abandoned building from the outside. She now had a purpose and, climbing up three floors, she knocked on the door of the flat labeled 4C confidently.

The door opened, revealing a handsome man with long black hair and sharp grey eyes, dressed with jeans and buttoning a puffy, long-sleeved white shirt, looking at her with confused eyes. "Lily? What are you doing here? Is James there?" Sirius Black asked as he peered around.

"No! Um, are you busy? I really need to talk to you," Lily asked him before sniffing the air around her and crumpling up her nose. "Are you wearing cologne?" Realization dawned upon her and she opened her eyes. "OH! You're going out tonight! Right! I'm so sorry! I'll just go and visit Marlene instead, don't worry-"

"Lily, don't worry, I was only getting ready. I don't have to pick up anybody, the girl is coming over for dinner, so calm down and enter the damn place," Sirius cut her off, opening the door so the redhead could enter.

She hesitated for a moment, her mouth gaping like a fish out of water and went inside. Sirius shook his head thinking about how foolish this girl could become.

"Good of you to come inside, because Marlene is busy tonight, she's arriving from a mission and will probably want to sleep off her exhaustion," he informed Lily.

She only hummed in response as she took in the flat. Normally the place would be sort of messy, with books thrown around all over the place and pieces of parchment crumpled up in some corners. Tonight, there were candles floating throughout the path, from the door to the dining room, and there was actually a nice smell coming out from the kitchen. "Wow, Sirius, you've really outdone yourself. This is one lucky girl!" she could not help exclaim.

He merely shrugged and motioned for her to sit down on the sofa. "So," he clapped. "What makes Lily Evans stop by in the middle of the night, by herself, at Sirius Black's casa?"

Lily took a deep breath and clamped her hands together as she spoke. "Well, tonight James told me he loved me."

Sirius looked expectantly at her. "Yeah, and?"

She chose her words carefully. "And, I don't know how to feel about that."

"What? What do you mean you don't know how you feel about that? You either feel it or you don't. Easy," he told her as if she were a toddler.

"Sirius, it's not easy for me!" she said, waving her hands all around exasperated.

"I don't follow. You love everyone," Sirius said.

"I know! So why is it that I can't tell him that I love him?" Lily said this and froze, again giving him the same look of understanding of earlier.

"Lily…? Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah," she answered but sounding far away.

"Um, will you care to explain?" Sirius inquired while looking at the clock. Damn, she's going to be here soon.

She snapped out of her reverie and stood up. "I have to find James!"

"Wait-what? Lily! You still haven't explained!" Sirius cried as he looked at her like she'd grown another head. That was pink. With 5 eyes.

"Sirius, I didn't want to tell James I loved him, because we're in a war against prejudice and sometimes I feel like we don't stand a chance! But I've realized that I love him and being with him in a world full of peace where I could live with him and be enveloped with his love is enough of a reason for me to fight! So, I'm very sorry Sirius, but I have to go back! I'll let you know or James will!" she was already at the door. Lily opened the door and there was a tall, scarred blonde woman that she recognized. "Marlene? I thought you were going home after the mission."

Marlene looked flabbergasted and stuttered. She couldn't even finish her sentence before Lily attacked her in a breathtaking hug. "Marlene, I have so much to tell you, but I'll tell you later!" She released her friend and ran back down the stairs and Apparated between the 2nd and 1st floor to her front door.

The blonde girl was still processing everything that had happened and turned around to face Sirius. "What just happened?"

"Hell if I know," Sirius replied as he grinned at her from his place inside the house. "Aren't you coming in?"

Marlene smirked back at him as she entered and closed the door. "Does she know?" she asked as she walked towards Sirius and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him gently.

"She will when she pieces everything together," he smiled roguishly at Marlene and kissed her once more. "I missed you."

* * *

"James? I'm back! Where are you?" Lily said as she barged through the front door. She heard the shower running and ran to the bathroom, opening the door.

Steam surrounded her when she entered, but it was clear was in there for she could hear his atrocious shower voice attempting to sing all the parts of "Bohemian Rhapsody". But Lily was anxious. So, with a huge smile on her face, she ripped the shower curtain open while he sung "I see a little silhouette-o of a man, SCARAMOUCHE! SCARAMOUCHE! WILL YOU DO THE FANDANG-AAAAAH" scaring James so much with that that he slipped and held himself thanks to the wall. "JESUS CHRIST, LILY! I swear, you're going to kill me someday!" he yelled, muttering some choice swears under his breath as he held his chest in an attempt to control his thudding heart.

"James, I love you," Lily said loudly so as to be heard above the noise of the shower.

James stopped attempting to control his breathing. As a matter of fact, his whole _being_ just stopped. Then, he picked Lily from where she stood and placed her under the shower with a smile that matched hers and laughed loudly. Lily was shrieking, but it was cut off by James' kisses.

"James!" she managed to shriek as she giggled and he kept kissing her face in any available spot. "I had a whole speech prepared and now you're ruining it!" she kept insisting, yet not making any effort to stop him.

"And I'm sure," kiss, "you'll have," kiss, "some time," kiss, "later," kiss.

Lily finally shoved him back, holding him by his shoulders. "I love you James Potter, with all my soul and heart," she said as she smiled up at him.

James' heart could have burst at those words. He stepped up so that Lily's sodden clothes and his bare body were completely touching. "And I love you, Lily Evans."

"James… Marry me?"

"What?" he asked with a grin.

"Marry me!" she exclaimed laughing.

"No! Now you ruined my plan!" he said laughing at her.

"What plan?"

"The one where I would get down on one knee and proposed while declaring my undying love to you!"

"You can still do it!"

He fished around for his wand in the heaps of clothes and, when he found it eventually, summoned the ring he'd been holding onto since his mother's death. He kneeled and took Lily's left hand. James looked at her and was encouraged by Lily's expecting smile, which made him laugh once more, due to the fact that she was soaked beneath the showerhead.

"Lily Evans, you're a crazy woman, but that's what I love about you. You don't care that I sing really bad, or that I've been adoring your frog-green eyes from afar since I was eleven. But now you're standing in my shower, telling me that you love me, and that makes me not care either," he presented her the ring. "Lily, love, will you do me the honor of becoming Mrs. James Potter?" he finished with a grin.

And, somehow, between all his loving words and his loving eyes, she managed to laugh and say "Of course, Mr. James Potter!" Then, she kneeled in front of him, and he placed the ring on her finger and kissed her again, taking all his sweet time, under the water that had suddenly turned cold.

But nothing mattered, because her flaws were his and now they would get to live with them. And it would make loving each other and fighting for a chance at love worthwhile.

* * *

A/N: Hello! I know, I should be working on NSOAM, but I had started this project and decided today to give it a go. And here we are! Hope you liked it, it's not edited or beta'd so bear with me, and don't be afraid of reviewing and give me some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism! I love you all!

-Adri-


	2. Chapter 2: Teddy and Victoire

_-All of your flaws and all of my flaws__  
__They lie there hand in hand__  
__Ones we've inherited, ones that we learned__  
__They pass from man to man-_

**Teddy/Victoire**

A young man was lying on the floor of his flat. For a cheap place, it wasn't as bad as it sounded. Sure, the vast amount of rain that always befell in the city made water bubbles behind his wallpaper, and the kitchen sink's faucet was too hard to turn thanks to the accumulated rust that he always forgets to clean or change. He closed his eyes in inhaled deeply the ever-present smell of humidity and jasmine, bringing him a small sad smile.

As he lay there, he heard movement from the other side of the room. A door opened and the rustle of soft, delicate footsteps echoed throughout the place. He knew it wouldn't take too long for her to find him on the floor. He also knew that she knew he wasn't asleep, so it didn't come as a surprise when she lay down beside him. The silence that spread between them felt comfortable, just as it could be if they were talking or laughing.

When she spoke up, it was soft. If it weren't for the stillness in the atmosphere, Teddy wouldn't have heard her. Her voice was velvet in which he couldn't help but envelop his senses around. But it also held roughness, strength that she got from her parents, because they were both fighters and survivors. "How bad is it this time?"

Teddy opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the girl next to him. Her hair was all mussed, strands floating over her head, creating a static halo around her. The deep blue eyes she'd inherited from her parents were staring at the ceiling, carefully examining the dust particles floating as they passed by. He had to make an effort not to caress her cheek and just marvel at her beauty. "Not as bad as last time, since you're here."

At that, the girl smiled for a few seconds. "You know what I mean; you have to tell me these things."

"I'm being honest here, love. Last time was really bad, so it means a lot that you're here with me. I can get through this."

Victoire turned around to face him, leaning against her elbow so she could have a nice view of him. His eyes followed hers, and he batted his eyelashes as he openly stared at her. "Y'know, I'm really starting to like this conversation," he joked, to which she rolled her eyes while grinning at him.

"You're mental," she said.

"Right you are," Teddy deadpanned as he broke his eye contact to stare up at the ceiling again.

Another silence fell between them.

Victoire reached out her hand and gently caressed the side of his face with her fingertips. He closed his eyes once more and relished the feeling of her soft, caring, warm hands. She could feel the sparse stubble under her touch. "I really need to shave," he sighed.

She smiled sadly as she chose her next words carefully. "Teddy," he hummed in response, still under the spell of her magical hands, "who got under your skin this time?" She took one of his hands and he felt himself inhaling sharply as her fingers were like ghosts, floating over his bruised and bloodied knuckles.

"It was a wall," he answered as he sneaked a glance to Victoire, but she couldn't be fooled, she was observing him with a raised eyebrow that said 'Really? Is that the best you can do?'

"I'm guessing the wall deserved it?" Victoire said.

"It always deserves a proper beating once in a while," he smirked.

"Teddy…" she admonished him.

"I know Vic," he sighed and did a slightly hesitant pause, "It was that wanker, Jones, I think his name is."

"Well, what did he say?" Victoire urged.

"He called me a mutt, but I said that he was the mutt for being a son of a bitch," he simply said.

"Teddy!" Victoire sighed. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to her; he'd been having these episodes since they were kids. Someone would insult Teddy, he'd insult them back, and it would get physical quickly. He'd then have these moments in which he says he's cooling off, but in reality, he's wallowing in guilt and punishing himself for something that was long gone.

"I'm fine now, ok, that's all that matters," he mumbled at her.

"Oh love," she whispered at him as she brushed his hair away from his forehead and pressed her lips on his temples, smiling sadly at him. "Your parents were amazing people, you know? Without them, I wouldn't be able to have you here. And I know you're as proud of who they once were as they're of you."

His inhale was ragged as he attempted to control his emotions over this statement. "You really think so, Vic?" He hated when he got like this, he sounded so pathetic, but having Victoire with him made it worthwhile.

"Absolutely! Who wouldn't be proud of their son for having this spectacular girl for a daughter-in-law?" she replied. Teddy laughed with her as she laid her head on his chest, one of his hands tangled in her mess of hair. She had such a beautiful smile; it was one of those smiles that would make your heart leap as though it would come out from his mouth. Whenever their lips met, they molded together, to form a perfect symbol of unity and love. As he thought this, he traced the form of her lips with the tip of his fingers, her eyes closing as she enjoyed his soft and careful observations. She hummed and pouted her lips at him to kiss his fingertips.

"I love you, you know that?" he whispered lovingly at his fiancée.

"Yes," she smiled once more and opened her eyes. They were shining with laughter etched into them. "And that's why you're going to make pancakes, so up you get!"

Teddy laughed as she got up and walked back to their room to go to the bathroom. "You better be making some damned pancakes when I get back!" she called from the bathroom.

"Yes, ma'am!" he replied, a small smile still in place as he sat up and, gathering his strength, he walked to the kitchen to gather the ingredients to make his future wife some damned pancakes.

* * *

A/N: So? What did you think of this chapter? :) good? bad? tell me! :D


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